She thought she was going to die.
She did.
But the next time she opened her eyes , she found out that she was living a whole new life, as a little girl who was going to enter a noble household as a maid.
However, a true pearl can never hide its lus...
After spending a few more days in Da Lang, some of the escorts from the Northern Plains, that had accompanied their journey, decided to return home.
YuLan's handmaidens stayed with her, as well as JingHan, JingMo, Xiao Hui, and little JingXiang.
Although Emperor Zhang was never troubled by them continuing to stay at the appointed courtyards inside the Imperial Palace, JingHan and YuLan decided to find an independent estate to stay at.
The Palace had too many eyes. And the number of eunuchs, guards and servants roaming around, made the free-spirited Northern Plains people slightly uncomfortable.
Ji SongLi and Zhen BuFeng suggested for the group to use Liu YangHuan's estate that had been functioning as a vocational school for quite a number of years now.
Second Prince Zhang JunLi, as the third authoritative power behind the trio's alliance for the Dragon troop and the school, quickly agreed.
The estate was spacious enough to accommodate everyone; and YuLan had been having a relatively enjoyable time teaching the bright-minded orphans of the variety of subjects and skills she possessed.
Some of them were even interested in becoming chefs after they tasted her cooking.
Apart from the idyllic days and months they lived through, while waiting for their appointed wedding date decreed by the Emperor Himself, YuLan felt perfectly content, if not a little bored.
As with popular custom, the Emperor had picked a day in Spring, even consulting his Imperial astronomers of any possible unfavourable dates and stars alignments to be avoided in the season. The poor astronomers could only advise their Emperor as best as they could. After all, it was almost impossible to tell the will of the heavens for a wedding that was only to occur after another two seasons.
For YuLan, she was perfectly happy if she could officially enter the Ji estate at any time that was to be assigned to her. It was just a formality after all.
She and SongLi were already bound together - marriage or no marriage - and she never had the thought of leaving him.
A couple of times every month, she would either send her handmaiden to the Ji estate to call for General Ji; or did the visit herself, to take him away for a couple of days.
Sometimes they travelled to Ming town, walked the paths of their childhood, and reminisced about their past memories through songs and melodies conveyed through their well-loved guqin.
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Sometimes they just stayed at Liu YanHuan's estate, inside her privately assigned courtyard.
Whenever they spent time together, but only in the few days YuLan deemed to be 'safe' - after all, she did not want to be carrying a big bump when she was to wear her red wedding dress in Spring - they would be insatiable, relishing their hunger for each other. Both would tangle in the bedsheets, whispering sweet words of love and promises -
